Canberra Raiders re-sign Elliott Whitehead

Oct 20, 2017 - 2:26 AM
Canberra have moved to keep second-rower Elliott Whitehead off the open market, re-signing him until the end of the 2020 NRL season.

Whitehead, who will play for England at this year's World Cup, was off-contract at the end of 2018 and would have been able to field offers from elsewhere at the start of next month.

But the 28-year-old said he never had any intentions of leaving the Raiders after having made an impact in his 50 NRL games since arriving in 2016 from the English Super League.

"We're building something special and I want to be a part of that," Whitehead said.

"We've obviously got to improve on what we did last season but we know we have the talent in the group to do this.

"We can sometimes be a bit unpredictable for other teams which can be a good thing, but we also need to make sure that we continue to play the footy that suits us."

The Raiders have the majority of their squad off contract at the end of 2018, with Jarrod Croker, Jordan Rapana, Joseph Leilua, Joseph Tapine and Jack Wighton their only big stars locked in beyond the end of next season.

"We're very fortunate to have a player like Elliott at our club and what he's achieved in his two seasons in the NRL has been remarkable," chief executive Don Furner said.

"The club's excited about (Whitehead)'s re-signing and it continues our push to lock up the core playing group into the future."